Saturday, 25 February 2012

Guest Post By My Mum: "Sixty-Three Angels"

In vain I've tried to find the original comment of one of my regular readers (was it you, Kay?) who suggested my Mum do a guest post on my blog; it must have been fairly recent, around the time of my Dad's birthday at the end of January, but I can't find it. Never mind - the idea was great, I suggested it to my Mum, and here it is: her first excursion into blogland, as my guest star!!!

Note: my Mum's English is fluent but she has not quite as much practice as I do; she wrote this in English even though I offered to do the translation from German for her, because she wanted to see for herself that she can do this - and I am sure you'll agree with me that she can! I have changed very little (of course on her request) and am quite proud of her, not just because of her ability to read and write English so well even though she only ever learnt it at school, and that was in the 1950s.

And now, without further ado: Sixty-Three Angels.

My daughter asked me to write a blog as a guest-blogger. I wondered
what subject I should take, and she answered: Anything you have been
impressed with, or you are angry about, or a fictional story. Well, here is what deeply impresses me every year:

I believe in angels - at least a very tiny little bit ;-),
though I am not a religious person, but there must somewhere exist
special guardian angels.

In my hometown we have an institution called "Vesperkirche" (if you understand German or don't mind running a site through an online translation machine, you can learn more about this charity project here).

That means getting a complete meal in the church for very little money. First it was only for the homeless and
other underprivileged poor individuals. But now it is open to anybody, for you and me as well. Of course those who can afford to are
supposed to pay a bit more. The philosophy behind it is that all guests get together, the tables seat 12 each, and you can find at
the same table all kinds of people: Academics, craftsmen, managers,
lonely old ladies and men (mostly widowers), young girls and boys,
families with children, and also down-and-outs with greasy hair and more and less smelling. And it works: They are all chatting, talking and discussing together, while eating.
Everyone gets served, they only have to take a seat and order
what they choose between 2 meals (one vegetarian). And the tables are prettily decorated with primrose flowerpots, table-sets and candles. The
atmosphere is bright and cheerful.

Now
the other side: There are needed every day about 60 helpers who do the
work, 50 cakes (homemade or bought, but always donated). We serve daily between 460 and 500 meals, and that's a great logistical
challenge, and that is what impresses me every time, how fantastically
everything is organized. We helpers are all voluntary workers andno professional caterers. There are old and younger ladies, old and younger men, rich and
poor, it's amazing to watch the high boss and owner of a big store washing dishes or serving tables. And one does not have to belong to the parrish, all
are free, lots are in no confession at all.

But now my angel-story: Once I was serving a large tray full of hot soup, the tables are placed rather close together with very little space to move, and I was bending to serve the plates. Then it happened: The soup bowls began to slide, because I was not holding the tray straight. Everyone around the table held their breath, so did I, and I tried to juggle to
avoid pouring the hot soup over the lap of the lady near me! Finally I
managed to catch the tray again horizontally without an accident, what was nearly a
miracle. Everybody was relieved, they nearly applauded me for my
performance. ;-) And the old lady said: You know, here in this church
there are exactly 63 angels (of stucco), and one of them was just with
you!

- - - - - - -

All pictures taken by me when I went to have lunch there this week with my Dad on one of the days my Mum worked there.Apart from the full meal (soup, main course, salad, coffee and cake for 1,50 Euro), there's loads more there at the church for those who are in need: two different daily newspapers every day, there is a kids' corner with toys and picture books to keep the little ones entertained while their parents or grandparents finish their meal in peace; second-hand clothes, a hairdresser, open clinic, sewing and mending service, hand massage, and sometimes a solicitor is there to offer free advice. While anyone can sit down for a meal, all those other services are meant exclusively for homeless and other poor people. In my opinion, a good way of making sure donations (in the shape of money, goods, a home-made cake or your very own time and energy) really get to where they are needed. And the churchy bit is not overstated; nobody preaches, nobody expects particularly pious behaviour in order to "deserve" help.The church itself was built in 1903, when there was still a king in the castle and my hometown was still very much an active garrison. It was built specifically for the military people stationed in and around the town. After WWII, it was re-dedicated and is now called Friedenskirche, which means church of peace. Apart from alcohol being sold at garages, can you think of anything more contradicting than asking godly favour for one's instruments of war and death?! Well, I can't, but let's not go there, at least not now.Under many aspects, this church is unusual; there is no darkness, but everything is airy and in bright colours. And I have never seen Jesus represented in a church like this, i.e. not on a cross:

Clearly a super-fit man from all the walking the length and width of Palestine, and no junk food and chocolate in those days! Sorry - this was supposed to be my Mum's guest post, and here I am, blabbing on about a subject I don't think you've ever heard me go on about before.

40 comments:

A lovely post and a lovely idea. I wish more churches and charities would handle things this way. So often charity makes the recipient feel demeaned and somehow less than the rest of the world. Not, I am sure, what the Good Lord intended!

Your mother's English is wonderful. I wish my German was as good. So I will say only, Danke to both of you!

Dear Meike,Oh my goodness, are you the only one on Earth who EVER listens to me? I think I DID mention that your Mom could write on your blog when you told us that she wrote reviews of books in English! I LOVE this story of the 63 angels and I love the straightforward way that she told us of the food, beauty and love offered to those in need by people from all walks of life.Okay, if anyone ever says to me, "What purpose do you have in reading blogs?"...I will point this post out to them and say, "Here, this is why I like to read them". Thank you and thanks to your Mom! And Meike, I must photograph the painting of Jesus at my church!

Librarian, you have a very special mum! (And her English is excellent.) The idea behind the meals is inspired, and the orgainstion must be a logistical nightmare, but it obviously works out beautifully. A lovely post.

Dear Meike and, especially, Meike's Mom, Thank you for a beautiful, heartwarming post. There is so much too much bad news in the world, news which weighs down our spirits as we hear it. How wonderful it is to read such good news as you have shared with us, Meike's Mom, news of many people coming together to do good deeds and acts of kindness, day after day. It is a blessing for not only the homeless (though surely a great blessing for them) but for anyone who gets to experience it, or help with it, or even hear about it from far away. Thank you again!

First, it was a pleasure to meet your mom, and what a beautiful post! I hope she does some more! Isn't it wonderful that there are communities that take care of their own. The photos are beautiful, nicely done!

Hello dear community!Thank you all, I am really overwhelmed with all your kindly comments! Today, as a sunday, we also hat 500 meals to serve and we have got a lot of thankful feedbacks from the guests, and that is very important to all the helpers.

Meike, You wouldn't believe it...I just went to see my Dad on Saturday and I took the handwritten recipe to him of your Mom's sauerkraut. He JUST canned the sauerkraut that he MADE himself, that was in the crock for six weeks...he was excited to get a recipe from Germany as that has always had a special place in his heart! I will let you know when he makes it.

Meike, you have another award on my blog! Check my post for today, Feb. 26th!

Please say thanks to your Mom again...I really did love what she wrote.

I've been absent from blog reading for a few days photographing churches in Northland and I pop in tonight to an absolutely wonderful and heart warming post. If only, if only more people would do such things for others. Loneliness is one of the great sadnesses of modern 'civilised' society and I am thrilled and amazed at what is being done. I admire your Mum for what she is doing, for her choice of subject for the blog and for her command of English. She gets my vote for Mum of the Day.

Hello GB,I feel rather flattered by your dear comment!You are absolutely right about loneliness. I think, having social contacts to other people is at least as important as a warm meal is. So was my impression.Meike's Mum

Hello Librarian,I liked your mum's guest post very much, but she didn't say whereabouts the Vesperkirche is. I didn't know that there are such charities in Germany?Austria?, but i left so many years ago that it's hardly surprising that I don't know.

Hello Friko, and thank you for stopping by! This Vesperkirche is in Ludwigsburg, South Germany. I have written a few times about my hometown already, so my regular readers know it and so this time, I did not think it necessary to mention - a wrong assumption, it seems :-)You can find out more about the Vesperkirche when you click on the word "here" (highlighted in blue) quite at the top of this article.

What a wonderful post, Meike's Mum, both the subject and your English. I studied German right through university and doubt I could write a post as well as that. I've enjoyed reading the link you gave and think this is a superb idea, both as practical help and also emotional and psychological encouragement to those in real difficulty. Ich gratuliere recht herzlich.

Who knows, Nan :-) At the moment, the allotment is "dormant" with only my Dad going there to feed the birds, so my Mum can't really report anything new from there. But I do hope that all the wonderful feedback she got on her first guest post will induce her to write another one at some stage!

I am SO impressed by your Mum, Meike! First, because I can tell from this post that she is a good and positive and constructive person. And second, (less, but still important) I am impressed that she writes such VERY good English. When I imagine myself trying to write a post in my school German - well, I blush just to think of the mess I would make of it.

I love the idea of people of all types sitting around the table and talking to each other and having fun. It's so much better than just "charity". And the strange thing is that it reminds me of a book I bought recently which was written in about 1830 by an English person who spent a long holiday in Germany. He describes how many of the people in the village where he stayed, from rich to poor, would sit around a long table, VERY much like your mother describes, eating a midday lunch together. It seemed strange that the social classes would mix in this way, and it seems strange today that the different types of people (or social classes I guess) mix like this in your mother's church. It's a good thing but I can hardly imagine it happening here.

I guess it shows the English obsession with class hasn't changed much in nearly 200 years :( But also I wonder if there might be a tradition in Germany of people of all types getting together to eat. Just a thought.... n any case, this would be a wonderful thing for an English church to do.

Jenny, I shall ask my Dad - but he is not quite the "chatty" type in the way my Mum and I are; we are always happy to tell others about the goings on in our lives, whereas most of the time my Dad prefers to be less in the limelight, so to speak.

Don't be fooled, though - while the German class system may not be quite as obvious and strict as the English one, it is certainly a very real presence in today's society as much as it must have been in 1830. There is a growing dislike for the Unterschicht over here, but people would never openly admit that they feel that way, because they are maybe even more obsessed about political correctness.And when I read on other forums how (German) tourists describe the "picturesque" poverty in countries they have spent their holidays in, I could honestly cry out loud.